Covington will hold 2nd annual Free Christmas Dinner

COVINGTON — This group from Covington wanted to make the holiday time a little better for people in their community and those in surrounding areas.

And the way they are doing that is by providing a free holiday feast the Saturday before Christmas.

The second annual Covington’s Free Christmas Dinner will be held from 4-7 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 21, at the Covington Eagles, which provided their facility at no charge. The dinner is for residents from Covington, Bradford, Pleasant Hill, West Milton, Bradford and surrounding areas.

“It’s dinner for people that could use a good meal at Christmas time. It’s for people that may not have the opportunity to eat a good meal at Christmas time,” said a spokesperson for the event, who wished to remain anonymous.

The spokesperson said they fed around 750 people at last year’s dinner, and they will be making enough food to feed 1,000 this year.

It took a lot of hands on deck to get this project off the ground and running. According to the spokesperson, there were 80 people that assisted in getting everything together last year. There are a half dozen in the core group, while 30 others, coming from all over the area, will help serve this year — including a troop of Boy Scouts. The spokesperson also added they will be delivering to shut-ins in the area.

Stillwater Valley Catering will make a variety of foods for the dinner, including ham, cheesy potatoes, green beans, cupcakes. They will also provide an assortment of beverages and coffee.

“We really couldn’t do it without their generosity,” the spokesperson said.

The idea came to the group after seeing how successful the Fields of Grace Worship Center’s Thanksgiving dinner was last year.

“Last year in November, we had heard about Fields of Grace, a church in town, having a Thanksgiving dinner and it had hundreds of people showing up,” the spokesperson said. “We thought it be nice to offer two nice meals during the holiday season, that way people in Covington can always look forward to having a good meal on Thanksgiving and Christmas.

“There’s a lot of people hurting and a lot of people who are not getting money for food — this is just about giving back.”

If people wish to donate, they can do so by sending a check to Jay Meyer, 7910 N. Mcmaken Rd., Covington, OH, 45318. Checks must be made payable to Covington Community Chest.